THE SCARLET SKY
When Harry finally woke up the sky was filled with a red glow. Harry’s first thought was how similar the sky looked to the ceiling of the Great Hall the moment Voldemort was defeated. It was as if the whole world knew he was gone and wanted to savor the moment. However, Harry knew the sky was filled with a red glow because the sun had nearly set. His best guess was that he had been asleep for nearly ten hours, and he decided that it was time to get out of bed. He reached over to his bed stand to grab his glasses. They were sitting right next to the plate that earlier held a sandwich made for him by Kreacher, now it just held a few crumbs.
Once out of bed Harry thought about putting on some clean clothes, but realized he hadn’t been in his dormitory all year let alone unpacked any clean clothes. The worn jeans and dirty shirt he had on would have to do he thought. But at that thought Harry saw a clean outfit sitting at the end of his bed. Without asking himself too many questions about the clean clothes, Harry changed and began to head down to the Gryffindor common room. His muscles were sore with every step, but the pain was minimal to him after the events of the previous night and morning.
The thought of the pain he had endured brought an ache to his heart. He had lost more people he loved in his life that night; Lupin and Tonks were the first two people Harry thought about. It hurt Harry to think that his godchild would grow up just like himself; having never really known his parents. Lupin and Tonks found love in a time filled with fear and hate, they brought hope and happiness to their friends with their example of courage and love, but now they were gone.
Happiness. That was probably the final emotion that filled Fred Weasley before he died. He smiled as he fought next to his brother Percy. A moment around Fred was never a dull one and it was never with his twin brother George. George would be taking the death of Fred hard Harry thought. The Weasley twins were always ready to face danger or trouble and they were always ready to do it with a smile. That is how Harry would forever remember Fred Weasley, a smile etched in eternity.
It took Harry a moment to realize it but he had been standing at the door of the boy’s dormitory for awhile now thinking about the people he loved that he had lost because of Voldemort. “It’s over now,” Harry said to himself out loud. Sure there would be rebuilding that needed to be done in the days, weeks and years to come, but the rebuilding could be done without fear of his return. The witches and wizards who lost their lives in the fight to save the wizarding world could be remembered and honored as they deserved to be, in peace. “It’s over,” Harry repeated. Gathering himself Harry reached for the door and began to head for the common room.
The common was empty as Harry had hoped, well almost hoped. He was still not ready to face the world, but he was ready to see the face of a certain red headed girl. The same girl who filled his mind moments before Voldemort shot the killing curse at Harry in the forbidden forest. It was at that moment that the door of the girl’s dormitory opened up, Harry turned his head to see Ginny Weasley emerge from the doorway. She looked at him and smiled, it was a weak smile, but a smile that spoke paragraphs to Harry. He walked over to the bottom of the stairs as she descended them.
“Hey,” was all Harry could say as she stopped in front of him.
Even though Harry knew she was the person he wanted to see first after waking up, he had no idea what to say. Apparently Ginny had no idea what to say either because she just looked into Harry’s green eyes as a small tear began to form in her left eye. It ran down her cheek as she touched his face with her right hand. Her touch filled Harry with a warmth he hadn’t felt in a long time. It was as if Ginny knew how Harry felt at that moment because she then wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his chest.
Harry held onto Ginny for what seemed like several beautiful summer days. The warmth of her touch and smell of flowers filled Harry. His heart still ached from the loss of loved ones, but with every passing moment holding onto Ginny, the ache seemed to subside some. It was as if she was filling his heart back up with love.
Harry broke the silence by whispering into Ginny’s ear, “I’m sorry Ginny.”
She looked up into his green eyes with her brown eyes. Ginny looked slightly confused, but deep down she understood Harry. Ginny nodded her head and finally spoke to Harry. “You have nothing to be sorry about Harry. I knew that we would end up back here, in each others arms. Even as you turned and walked away from me at Dumbledore’s funeral, I knew.”
Harry smiled at Ginny and led her over the one of the couches in front of the fireplace. Harry sat on the end of the couch with Ginny head on his shoulder and his arm around her. After months constantly moving and living in a tent, Harry was ready to just curl up next to Ginny if only for a few moments.
“I will admit that, for a moment, I thought it was all over when I saw you lying at the foot of Voldemort. Everything seemed to freeze in that moment; I didn’t realize I was crying until the silencing charm was put on us. I thought I had lost you.”
“You know I thought I had lost you forever too tonight.”
“When?” Ginny asked with quizzical look on her face.
“Voldemort cast the killing curse on me last night in the forbidden forest...”
Ginny’s head jerked towards Harry with a shocked expression as the words “What?” silently slipped from her lips as he continued to speak.
Harry knew he wasn’t ready to explain to Ginny everything, it was just too soon and he was too emotionally drained. So Harry continued to explain his thoughts.
“..And as I stood there with Voldemort’s wand pointed at me with death on its tip all I could think about was you; how beautiful you look and the feel of your lips on…” But before Harry could finish his sentence Ginny’s lips were on his.
“Yeah, that’s the feeling,” Harry whispered as their lips parted.
“Well Harry, now that we both know what it feels like to think we’ve lost the other for ever, lets say we never do that again?”
“Sounds brilliant” were the last words to come from Harry for awhile. His lips were occupied for some time until the portrait of the fat lady swung open and a small crowd people, most of them with red hair, climbed into the Gryffindor common room. Ron and Hermione led the way holding each other’s hand.
“Glad to see you’re awake mate.” Ron said as him and Hermione sat down on a couch adjacent to Harry and Ginny.
“You know I slept quite well for the first time in awhile, but I still feel exhausted.”
“Well I can imagine resurrecting from the dead can wear a person out,” Hermione responded, “but it is something I won’t be trying out myself.”
The three of them laughed together. It was the first time that they actually had laughed in a long time. Hermione seemed to notice this fact and commented once they finished. “I don’t know when the last time we could laugh and not have a sense of fear in the back of our heads.”
Ron gave Hermione a small hug with his arm already around her shoulder and Harry just nodded in agreement.
“Happiness will come. Sometimes you have to wait for it, but it’ll come,” said Ginny as she looked at everyone in the room with her eyes finally resting on Harry.
Everyone else in the room had remained quite until Mrs. Weasley spoke up.“All the students who left last night will be returning in the morning to gather their things. It is up to you Harry if you would like to stay or leave tonight.”
“I can only hope that if we leave tonight our destination would be the Burrow?” Harry asked.
Mr. Weasley spoke up and said, “I think the Burrow would be a lovely destination seeing how none of us have been there in some time.”
Everyone smiled with sense of realization that the war was really over and their lives could finally continue.
“I know that if there is still a bed there for me I’d really enjoy a visit to the Burrow.”
Everyone looked at Percy after he spoke, but it was George who said “Come on mate, we may have never admitted it, but we might have missed you a little.”
“Well what are we waiting for?” asked Harry. “The Burrow probably misses us.”
With that Bill Weasley picked up a pillow off one of the empty couches. He moved his wand about and muttered a few incantations. “Everyone grab hold.”
With the familiar jerk at the navel Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, George, Percy, Molly, and Arthur spun through a whirl of colors until the landed next to the garden behind the Burrow.
Rebuilding by Gary Potter
Chapter Notes:I felt like more could have been said in J.K's Epilogue. I think there are many people out there like me who wanted more about the life after the war. Here is my take, hope you enjoy. I know the first chapter seems short, but the next couple will be a bit longer. Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: The world of Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling, and for that I am thankful.